


Clemency

by amuk



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Trust, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 20:34:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1792318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuk/pseuds/amuk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She can forgive him almost anything but even she has her limits. --Jane, Jake, and the boundaries of friendship</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clemency

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Clemency
> 
> For: Homestuck Worldcup Bonus Round 2
> 
> Prompt: Li'uri ke lu yayona, tswolayon a krr, ke tsun nga stivä'nì, Na'vi, 'A word is not a bird, when it flies you can not catch it.'
> 
>  
> 
> A/N: Slight alteration of the birthday incident.
> 
> Summary:

“Jane!” Jake’s calling, from a distance, and she almost wants to turn around and answer. That’s what friend’s do, right? They listen to each other and they greet each other and they do not  _ignore_  each other.

 

She keeps walking.

 

“Jane!” He’s running now. Jane almost wants to run too. He may be fast, but there’s no way he can catch her when she feels like this.

 

“Stop!” Jake grabs her shoulder and she lets him spin her around. His goofy face is apologetic and she wonders if he even knows why he’s apologizing.

 

Does he even know what he did wrong? Or does he think that if he says the right words and gives the right expression, she’ll forgive him.

 

“Jane, I’m...I’m sorry.”

 

Bingo. “For what?” she asks, playing along.

 

It stumps him, she can tell. The gears in his head are running in circles. He won’t figure it out, she’s sure.

 

“I need to go,” she says, her voice detached and quiet. It’s amazing the way anger can give way to a deadly calm. She would have punched him an hour ago.

 

Heck, she did punch him an hour go.

 

Now she just wants to keep walking.

 

“Just…wait a second.” Jake keeps his grip firm on her shoulders. “I know mucked up. You wanted to talk and I kept talking about me and my problems and I…I didn’t even ask how you were.”

 

“No, you didn’t.” Not once. Not even a simple, ‘how are you?’

 

The boy in front of her is flustered, still trying to grasp straws. It’s strange to think she had a crush on him.

 

Still does. But she doesn’t want these feelings anymore. None of them.

 

“And I forgot your birthday.” Jake rushes on, pulling out a hastily wrapped gift from his pocket. “I didn’t entirely—I got this present for you before but…I don’t remember dates well. Or times.”

 

Or other people, she almost adds.

 

But she’s angry, not cruel.

 

“I’m just…used to being alone.” Jake holds his hand out eagerly, his smile dropping a notch when she doesn’t take the gift. “I’m changing. I’m trying. Just give me a little time.”

 

How long? Another year? Two?

 

Her mouth refuses to voice her disbelief.

 

“I’m sorry,” he tells her. This time he’s sincere, this time he understands. Even his explanation rings true and it would be so easy to accept it. “I was dealing with Dirk and I just forgot all about you.”

 

The second he says those words, he covers his mouth. But it’s too late.

 

He can’t take them back.

 

“I’m sorry,” he repeats.

 

It’s just not enough.

 

She looks down at the present in his hand, and curls his fingers back over it. “I can’t forgive you,” she answers.

 

She can only take so much.

 


End file.
